Text Mode
Text mode is a HarfBuzz-shaped passage environment, not a general rich-text editor: formatting applies to the whole rendered passage rather than independently to a selected span. It provides a closer proof than raw glyph display, but target shapers and renderers can differ; recall Proofing Environments. Use it to compare reading rhythm and layout behavior while the source remains close at hand.
Text Tool and Text Mode
Press T in the Glyph window or choose the Text tool. Type on the canvas, paste a passage, or edit the window's text-entry controls. Escape returns to the previous tool.
Text mode provides an insertion point in the rendered passage, so you can edit the proof text directly.
Enable Features in the Content sidebar or Text-mode property bar and use the Features selector for shaped text. It offers the default-feature set and Auto script identification for text runs; enabling feature processing can compile the source, so check diagnostics. FontLab uses HarfBuzz to apply the font’s compiled substitutions and positioning, but a raw glyph display and a shaped character sequence are different tests.
Use / to open Quick Find for a glyph name, or # for the codepoint lookup. Related-glyph and Find Glyphs controls help insert alternates and marks. Direct glyph insertion is useful for comparing drawings, but it does not prove that normal character input reaches that glyph through a feature.
In a variable source, check the dynamic instance location before comparing a passage. A slider left at an intermediate value can make a master comparison appear inconsistent.
After inactivity, Auto Preview can hide the text cursor and make navigation shortcuts available. Click back into the passage to resume typing rather than assuming every letter key is still text input.
Formatting Options in Text Mode
Use the Text-mode property bar, content sidebar, or contextual widget to set the displayed text size, feature behavior, tracking, and leading. The Text-state Contextual widget supplies on-canvas text-size, simulate-tracking, and simulate-leading fields. These proof settings apply to the rendered passage as a whole. Selecting a span does not give it independent rich-text formatting.
Text mode’s property bar groups size, spacing, direction, features, and alignment controls above the passage.
The Text tool’s alignment buttons set left, centered, or right alignment for the proof passage. These controls are experimental; inspect wrapping and line positions after changing them. They affect the displayed text arrangement, not the glyph outlines or stored sidebearings.
Simulate horizontal tracking adjusts the displayed separation between glyphs. Simulate leading adjusts the displayed line spacing. Neither rewrites the font's stored sidebearings or vertical dimensions. Return them to neutral when judging the font's own defaults.
For compiled text, compare the kern feature on and off in the Features selector to separate spacing from pair corrections. Use the intended script and language for feature combinations; compiled mark behavior is covered in Mark Features and Export.
Use manual line breaks for fixed samples or automatic wrapping for paragraph texture. Keep the width and text size consistent when comparing revisions; a different line break can change the impression of typographic color.
A useful pass begins at neutral formatting, then deliberately changes one condition: a tighter setting, a larger size, a stylistic set, or a different instance. Save the text and settings that reveal a problem before returning to outline or layout editing.
The Preview panel mirrors and extends this passage-proofing role; see The Preview Panel.